Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and non-transitory computer readable medium

ABSTRACT

An information processing apparatus includes a transmission unit, a notification unit, and an instruction unit. The transmission unit transmits a request for processing to a destination at which the request is accepted. The notification unit makes a notification of destination information including first information used to call the information processing apparatus and second information concerning the requested processing. The instruction unit instructs an external apparatus, when the external apparatus calls the information processing apparatus using the destination information, to perform an operation concerning the requested processing on the basis of the second information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 USC 119 fromJapanese Patent Application No. 2013-168967 filed Aug. 15, 2013.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, aninformation processing method, and a non-transitory computer readablemedium.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided aninformation processing apparatus including a transmission unit, anotification unit, and an instruction unit. The transmission unittransmits a request for processing to a destination at which the requestis accepted. The notification unit makes a notification of destinationinformation including first information used to call the informationprocessing apparatus and second information concerning the requestedprocessing. The instruction unit instructs an external apparatus, whenthe external apparatus calls the information processing apparatus usingthe destination information, to perform an operation concerning therequested processing on the basis of the second information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described indetail based on the following figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the entire configuration of aninformation processing system of an exemplary embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the hardwareconfiguration of an output apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the hardwareconfiguration of an information processing apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the functionalconfiguration of the information processing apparatus;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary menu site;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram for describing notification ofdestination information;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the destination information that isgenerated;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of information exchanged before and afteran instruction is issued by an instruction unit;

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate examples of a status site;

FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating an exemplary operation ofeach apparatus in a management process;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of the destination information in amodification;

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of the entire configuration of aninformation processing system in a modification;

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of multiple pieces of destinationinformation that are generated;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the functionalconfiguration of each apparatus in a modification;

FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary authority table; and

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the functionalconfiguration of each apparatus in a modification.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION [1] Exemplary Embodiments [1-1] EntireConfiguration

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the entire configuration of aninformation processing system of an exemplary embodiment of theinvention. Referring to FIG. 1, an information processing system 1includes an information processing apparatus 10, an output apparatus 20,a service server apparatus 30, and a network 2 to which the informationprocessing apparatus 10, the output apparatus 20, and the service serverapparatus 30 are connected. The network 2 is a system that performscommunication with, for example, the Internet or a mobile communicationnetwork included. The network 2 mediates exchange of data between theapparatuses connected to the information processing system.

The service server apparatus 30 provides a process execution service inwhich a process specified by a user (hereinafter referred to as a“specified process”) is executed. The service server apparatus 30executes, for example, a process to convert an image, a process totranslate a sentence, and a process to convert the format of data as thespecified process. The service server apparatus 30 is used by the userwho has been registered for use of the process execution service.Specifically, the service server apparatus 30 stores a user identifier(ID) and a password for identifying the user and exchanges data with anapparatus in which the user has logged using the user ID and thepassword to provide the process execution service. The specified processmay be executed by a mechanism that provides the process executionservice causing the user to use computer resources in a cloud computingmode.

Upon transmission of request data indicating a request for the specifiedprocess to a destination at which the request for the specified processis accepted (such a destination is hereinafter referred to as a “requestdestination”), the service server apparatus 30 executes the specifiedprocess on the basis of the request indicated by the request data. Inaddition, the service server apparatus 30 transmits result dataindicating the result of the execution of the specified process to anapparatus that accesses a destination to which the result of thespecified process is supplied, that is, a destination from which theresult of the specified process is acquired from the viewpoint of theuser (such a destination is hereinafter referred to as an “acquisitiondestination”). The request destination and the acquisition destinationare each indicated by, for example, a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

The information processing apparatus 10 is operated by a user andrequests the service server apparatus 30 to execute the specifiedprocess on the basis of the content of the operation by the user. Inaddition, the information processing apparatus 10 manages the status ofthe specified process which the service server apparatus 30 is requestedto execute. How to manage the status of the specified process will bedescribed in detail below.

The output apparatus 20 is operated by a user and acquires the resultdata from the service server apparatus 30 to output the result data. Theoutput apparatus 20 has a function to form an image in the presentexemplary embodiment and outputs a result indicated by the result dataon a medium, such as a sheet of paper, to provide the result of thespecified process to the user. The user who receives the result of thespecified process may be the user who has performed the operation torequest the specified process or may be another user. The outputdestination of the result data is not limited to the medium and may be adisplay unit, such as a display, or a terminal, such as a smartphone,carried by the user.

[1-2] Hardware Configuration

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the hardwareconfiguration of the output apparatus 20. Referring to FIG. 2, theoutput apparatus 20 is a computer including a control section 21, astorage section 22, a communication section 23, a user interface (UI)section 24, an image reading section 25, and an image forming section26. The control section 21 includes a central processing unit (CPU), aread only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), and a real-timeclock. The CPU executes a program stored in the ROM or the storagesection 22 using the RAM as a working area to control the operation ofeach component. The real-time clock calculates the current date and timeto notify the CPU of the current date and time. The storage section 22includes, for example, a hard disk and stores data and programs used forthe control by the control section 21.

The communication section 23 includes a communication circuit forcommunication and transmits and receives data to and from the outputapparatus 20 and the service server apparatus 30 via the network 2. TheUI section 24 includes a display screen and a touch panel superimposedon the display screen. The UI section 24 accepts an operation by theuser and displays an image. The UI section 24 supplies operation datacorresponding to the accepted operation by the user to the controlsection 21, which performs processing corresponding to the operationdata. The image reading section 25 is, for example, a scanner andoptically reads an image of content, which is formed on a medium, suchas a sheet of paper, to supply image data representing the image that isread to the control section 21. The image forming section 26 forms animage on a medium, such as a sheet of paper. For example, the imageforming section 26 electrophotographically forms the image on the sheetof paper using toner of four colors: yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C),and black (K).

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the hardwareconfiguration of the information processing apparatus 10. Referring toFIG. 3, the information processing apparatus 10 is a computer includinga control section 11, a storage section 12, a communication section 13,a UI section 14, and an image forming section 15. Each of thesecomponents is hardware having a function common to that of the componentwith the same name in the output apparatus 20 (however, these componentsmay have different performances). The storage section 12 stores aprocessing program to request the service server apparatus 30 to executea process and to manage the status of the process.

[1-3] Functional Configuration

The information processing apparatus 10 executes a management process tomanage the status of the process which the information processingapparatus 10 has requested the service server apparatus 30 to execute onthe basis of the hardware configuration described above. The controlsection 11 executes the processing program stored in the storage section12 to control the components, thereby realizing the functions describedbelow.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the functionalconfiguration of the information processing apparatus 10. Referring toFIG. 4, the information processing apparatus 10 includes a transmissionunit 101, a notification unit 102, an instruction unit 103, and arecording unit 104.

[1-3-1] Transmission Unit 101

The transmission unit 101 is an exemplary unit to transmit the requestdata indicating the request to the request destination described above(the destination at which the request for the process is accepted). Theservice server apparatus 30 provides a menu site in which operationitems performed by the user using the process execution service areindicated. The information processing apparatus 10 has a browserfunction and accesses the menu site in response to an operation by theuser. Upon input of the user ID and the password by the user to log inthe service server apparatus 30, the menu site is displayed in the UIsection 14.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of the menu site. An operation image A1used to specify a process to be requested, an operation image A2 used toattach data when it is necessary to pass the data to the service serverapparatus 30, and an operation image A3 that is operated to determinethe content of the request are displayed in the menu site in FIG. 5.Upon tapping (softly pressing) the operation image A3 by the user, theinformation processing apparatus 10 is notified of the requestdestination from the service server apparatus 30. When the requestdestination is set in advance and the request destination is stored inthe information processing apparatus 10, this notification may not beperformed.

Upon operation of the operation image A1 to specify a process to berequested, operation of the operation image A2 to attach data, ifneeded, and tapping of the operation image A3 by the user, thetransmission unit 101 determines information for identifying thespecified process represented by the above operations (such informationis hereinafter referred to as “process identification information” andis also referred to as a job ID) and transmits the request dataindicating the request for the specified process and the processidentification information for identifying the specified process that isrequested to the request destination notified from the service serverapparatus 30. After the transmission of the request data, thetransmission unit 101 also supplies the request data to the notificationunit 102 and the recording unit 104.

The transmission unit 101 may not use the menu site illustrated in FIG.5 and may transmit the request data using, for example, inputinformation input by the user with the UI section 14. The inputinformation is, for example, the URL indicating the request destination,the name of a folder in which the data to be passed to the serviceserver apparatus 30 is stored, or the process identification informationarbitrarily determined by the user. In this case, the transmission unit101 supplies the input information to the recording unit 104. The methodof inputting the input information is not limited to the above one. Forexample, if the information processing apparatus 10 includes an imagereading section, the image reading section may be caused to read animage representing the input information. Alternatively, the inputinformation may be supplied via a storage medium, such as a universalserial bus (USB) memory, or the network 2. The input information may beselected from multiple pieces of input information stored in the storagesection 12 in the information processing apparatus 10 in advance.

[1-3-2] Notification Unit 102

The notification unit 102 is an exemplary unit to notify the user ofdestination information including a destination (as an example of firstinformation) with which the information processing apparatus 10 iscalled (such a destination is hereinafter referred to as an “apparatusdestination”) and associated information (as an example of secondinformation) concerning the specified process requested in the requestdata transmitted by the transmission unit 101 (such a specified processis hereinafter referred to as “requested processing”). In the presentexemplary embodiment, the notification unit 102 notifies the user of thedestination information including the acquisition destination describedabove in the requested processing (the destination from which the resultof the specified process is acquired) and the process identificationinformation (the information for identifying the requested processing)as the associated information. The associated information and thedestination information will now be described with reference to FIG. 6and FIG. 7.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram for describing the notification of thedestination information. Upon reception of the request data transmittedfrom the transmission unit 101, the service server apparatus 30 startsthe execution of the requested processing and transmits the acquisitiondestination to the information processing apparatus 10. In the examplein FIG. 6, the service server apparatus 30 transmits an URL“https://www.abc.com/a01/” as the acquisition destination. Thetransmitted acquisition destination is supplied to the notification unit102. The request data is also supplied from the transmission unit 101 tothe notification unit 102. As described above, the request dataindicates the process identification information (“J001” in the examplein FIG. 6). In the present exemplary embodiment, an URL“https://www.xyz.com/cgi/” is used as the apparatus destination. Thenotification unit 102 uses the apparatus destination, the acquisitiondestination, and the process identification information to generate thedestination information in the following manner.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the destination information that isgenerated. In the example in FIG. 7, the notification unit 102 generatesthe destination information“https://www.xyz.com/cgi/?p=https&u=//www.abc.com/a01/&j=J001.” In thedestination information, “https://www.xyz.com/cgi/” indicates theapparatus destination. In the destination information, “p=https”,“u=//www.abc.com/a01”, and “j=J001” are first associated information,which indicates the scheme name of the URL, second associatedinformation, which indicates the host name, etc., and third associatedinformation, which indicates the process identification informationdescribed above, respectively. The first associated information, thesecond associated information, and the third associated information arecollectively referred to as the associated information. In thedestination information, “?” is a symbol for defining a parameter to bepassed to the server when a file is acquired from a Web server with, forexample, a GET method using the URL. In the information processingsystem 1, “?” is used as the symbol that separates the apparatusdestination from the associated information. In the destinationinformation, “&” is a symbol that separates the parameters and is usedas the symbol that separates the first associated information from thesecond associated information and the symbol that separates the secondassociated information from the third associated information in theexample in FIG. 7.

Upon generation of the destination information illustrated in FIG. 7,the notification unit 102 notifies the user of the generated destinationinformation. For example, the notification unit 102 stores the user IDof the user, used in the service server apparatus 30, in associationwith an electronic mail address of the user. The notification unit 102transmits an electronic mail in which the destination information isdescribed or to which the destination information is attached to theelectronic mail address stored in association with the user ID, which isinput in the access to the menu site illustrated in FIG. 5. The useropens the electronic mail with a smartphone or a personal computer whichthe user carries to be notified of the destination information.

The address input as the input information described above may be usedas the electronic mail address of the user. The notification unit 102may notify the user of the destination information using another method.For example, the notification unit 102 may transmit the destinationinformation to an account of Social Networking Service (SNS), maydisplay the destination information with the UI section 14, or may formthe destination information on a medium with the image forming section15. When the destination information is displayed or is formed on amedium, the destination information may be represented by a barcode or aQuick Response (QR) code to be read out from the barcode or the QR codeusing the function of the smartphone or the like. Alternatively, theimage on the medium may be read out with the image reading section 25 inthe output apparatus 20 and the destination information may be read outfrom the code included in the image that is read out.

After the notification is performed in the above manner, thenotification unit 102 supplies the destination information of which theuser is notified to the recording unit 104.

[1-3-3] Instruction Unit 103

The instruction unit 103 is an exemplary unit to instruct an externalapparatus that has called the information processing apparatus 10 usingthe destination information notified by the notification unit 102 toperform an operation concerning the requested processing described aboveon the basis of the associated information included in the destinationinformation. The external apparatus in the present exemplary embodimentis the output apparatus 20.

[1-3-3-1] Access Instruction

The instruction unit 103 instructs the external apparatus (that is, theoutput apparatus 20) to access, for example, the acquisition destinationincluded in the destination information. Information exchanged among theservice server apparatus 30, the information processing apparatus 10,and the output apparatus 20 when the output apparatus 20 accesses theinformation processing apparatus 10, the instruction unit 103 instructsthe output apparatus 20 to access the acquisition destination, and theoutput apparatus 20 accesses the acquisition destination in accordancewith the instruction will now be descried with reference to FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of the information exchanged among theservice server apparatus 30, the information processing apparatus 10,and the output apparatus 20 before and after the instruction is issuedby the instruction unit 103. The output apparatus 20 has a browserfunction and, upon input of the destination information as a URL with anoperation by the user, transmits a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)request B1 to request transmission of a file of the apparatusdestination indicated by the destination information using, for example,the GET method to the information processing apparatus 10. The HTTPrequest B1 that is received is supplied to the instruction unit 103. Theinstruction unit 103 uses the associated information indicated after “?”in the destination information included in the HTTP request B1 togenerate the acquisition destination. Specifically, the instruction unit103 combines “p=https”, which is the first associated information, with“u=//www.abc.com/a01”, which is the second associated information, togenerate the acquisition destination “https://www.abc.com/a01.”

The instruction unit 103 transmits an HTTP response B2 of HTTP statuscode 302 (Found) in which the generated acquisition destination is usedas Location to the output apparatus 20. The output apparatus 20transmits an HTTP request B3 to the URL (the acquisition destination inthis case) included in a Location header of the received HTTP responseB2 with the browser function using the GET method. The instruction unit103 transmits the HTTP response B2 to the output apparatus 20 toinstruct the output apparatus 20 to access the acquisition destinationin the above manner. This instruction is to cause the apparatus that hascalled the information processing apparatus 10 to access anotherdestination and is called transfer or redirect. After the instructionunit 103 issues the instruction in the above manner, the instructionunit 103 supplies the destination information included in the HTTPrequest B1 transmitted from the output apparatus 20 to the recordingunit 104.

[1-3-3-2] Operation after Instruction

The operations of the output apparatus 20 and the service serverapparatus 30 after the instruction is issued by the instruction unit 103will now be described. Upon reception of the HTTP request B3, theservice server apparatus 30 transmits an HTPP response B4 representing astatus site indicating the status of the requested processing to theoutput apparatus 20.

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate examples of the status site. FIG. 9Aillustrates the status site indicating a state in which the requestedprocessing is not completed. In FIG. 9A, the degree of progress (60% ofthe entire service in this example) is represented with a progress barC1. FIG. 9B illustrates the status site indicating a state in which therequested processing is completed and the result data is ready to bedownloaded. An operation image A4 representing a character string“Download” is displayed on the status site. Upon tapping of theoperation image A4 by the user with the UI section 24 in the outputapparatus 20, the output apparatus 20 acquires the result data from theservice server apparatus 30. The output apparatus 20 outputs theacquired result data on a medium on the basis of the operation by theuser. The output apparatus 20 outputs the result data to supply theresult of the requested processing to the user. The output destinationof the result data is not limited to the medium and may be a displayunit, such as a display, or a terminal, such as a smartphone, carried bythe user.

[1-3-3-3] Instruction for Notification of Status

After the external apparatus has called the information processingapparatus 10, the instruction unit 103 instructs the external apparatus(the output apparatus 20 in the present exemplary embodiment) to performthe notification of the status concerning the requested processing. Suchan instruction for the notification is hereinafter referred to as a“notification instruction.” The status in which the notification isrequested with the notification instruction is, for example, the statusindicating whether the requested processing by the service serverapparatus 30 is completed, the degree of progress of the requestedprocessing, the status indicating whether the output apparatus 20acquires the result data, or the status indicating whether the outputapparatus 20 outputs the result data.

The output apparatus 20 uses the data that has been stored before theresult data is output in the above manner as status data representingthe status in which the notification is requested. For example, theoutput apparatus 20 stores the numerical value (60% in FIG. 9A and 100%in FIG. 9B) of a percentage displayed as the degree of progressrepresented by the progress bar C1 when the status site illustrated inFIG. 9A or 9B is displayed and uses the numerical value as the statusdata indicating the degree of progress or whether the result data areacquired. In addition, the output apparatus 20 stores a history of thereception of the result data and a history of the output of the resultdata and uses the histories as the status data indicating the status inwhich the result data is acquired and the status data indicating thestatus in which the result data is output, respectively. The instructionunit 103 instructs the output apparatus 20 to transmit the status datato the information processing apparatus 10 using, for example, SimpleNetwork Management Protocol (SNMP).

The instruction unit 103 repeats the notification instruction andterminates the notification instruction if the external apparatusindicates the status in which the result data indicating the result ofthe requested processing is acquired or output. The instruction unit 103stores a time when the output apparatus 20 has called the informationprocessing apparatus 10 using the destination information and executesthe notification process each time a predetermined time (for example, 30minutes or one hour) elapsed since the time. The instruction unit 103terminates the notification process when the status data transmittedfrom the output apparatus 20 is the history of the reception of theresult data or the history of the output of the result data, that is,when the output apparatus 20 indicates the status in which the resultdata is acquired or output.

[1-3-4] Recording Unit 104

The recording unit 104 is an exemplary unit to record the status of therequested processing. As described above, the request data is suppliedto the recording unit 104 from the transmission unit 101 (the inputinformation is also supplied to the recording unit 104 if the inputinformation is input). In this case, the recording unit 104 records therequest for the specified process in association with the processidentification information indicated by the request data. When the inputinformation is input, the recording unit 104 records the acceptance ofthe input information in association with the process identificationinformation. The destination information is supplied to the recordingunit 104 from the notification unit 102. In this case, the recordingunit 104 records the notification of the destination information inassociation with the process identification information included in thedestination information.

The destination information included in the HTTP request transmittedfrom the output apparatus 20 is supplied to the recording unit 104 fromthe instruction unit 103. This destination information is the one usedwhen the external apparatus (the output apparatus 20 in the presentexemplary embodiment) has called the information processing apparatus10. The recording unit 104 records the fact that the output apparatus 20has called the information processing apparatus 10 in association withthe process identification information included in the supplieddestination information. As described above, when the external apparatus(the output apparatus 20) has called the information processingapparatus 10 using the destination information, the recording unit 104records the status of the requested processing (the status in which theoutput apparatus 20 has called the information processing apparatus 10in this example) on the basis of the associated information (the processidentification information in this case) included in the destinationinformation.

The status data transmitted from the output apparatus 20 in response tothe notification instruction by the instruction unit 103 is supplied tothe recording unit 104. The recording unit 104 records the statusindicated by the status data in association with the processidentification information included in the destination information usedin the calling in response to which the notification instruction isissued.

The recording unit 104 also records time information indicating thecurrent time in the recording of the status of the requested processingin the above manner. The recording unit 104 may also record information(for example, the user ID) about the user who has performed theoperation to request the specified process and the user who receives theresult of the requested processing. The above method allows a moredetailed status of the requested processing to be recorded.

[1-4] Operations

The information processing system 1 executes the management processdescribed above (the process to manage the status of the process whichthe service server apparatus 30 is requested to perform) on the basis ofthe above configurations.

FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the operationof each apparatus in the management process. The management process isstarted in response to an operation to request the informationprocessing apparatus 10 to execute a process by the user (such anoperation is referred to as a “requested operation”). The requestedoperation is the operation on the menu site illustrated in FIG. 5 or theoperation to input the input information described above.

Referring to FIG. 10, in Step S11, the information processing apparatus10 accepts the requested operation. In Step S12, the informationprocessing apparatus 10 transmits the request data corresponding to theaccepted requested operation to the request destination of the serviceserver apparatus 30, which is determined for each process executionservice. Steps S11 and S12 are performed by the transmission unit 101.In Step S13, the service server apparatus 30 starts the execution of therequested processing indicated by the received request data. In StepS14, the service server apparatus 30 transmits the acquisitiondestination to the information processing apparatus 10. In Step S15, theinformation processing apparatus 10 uses the received acquisitiondestination to generate the destination information. In Step S16, theinformation processing apparatus 10 notifies the user of the generateddestination information. Steps S15 and S16 are performed by thenotification unit 102.

In response to the input operation to input the destination informationnotified in Step S16 in the output apparatus 20 by the user, in StepS21, the output apparatus 20 accepts the input operation. In Step S22,the output apparatus 20 uses the input destination information to callthe information processing apparatus 10. In Step S23, the informationprocessing apparatus 10 records the status of the requested processingon the basis of the destination information which the output apparatus20 uses for the calling. Step S23 is performed by the recording unit104. In Step S24, the information processing apparatus 10 generates theacquisition destination from the destination information. In Step S25,the information processing apparatus 10 transmits the HTTP response toinstruct access to the generated acquisition destination to the outputapparatus 20. Steps S24 and S25 are performed by the instruction unit103. In Step S26, the output apparatus 20 uses the acquisitiondestination included in the header of the received HTTP response toaccess the service server apparatus 30.

Upon access to the acquisition destination, in Step S31, the serviceserver apparatus 30 determines whether the requested processing iscompleted. If the service server apparatus 30 determines that therequested processing is not completed (NO in Step S31), in Step S32, theservice server apparatus 30 transmits the HTTP response representing thestatus site illustrated in FIG. 9A to the output apparatus 20. If theservice server apparatus 30 determines that the requested processing iscompleted (YES in Step S31), in Step S33, the service server apparatus30 transmits the HTTP response representing the status site illustratedin FIG. 9B to the output apparatus 20 and, in response to an operationto tap the operation image A4 by the user, transmits the result data tothe output apparatus 20. In Step S34, the output apparatus 20 outputsthe received result data on a medium or the like on the basis of anoperation by the user.

In the example in FIG. 10, in Step S41, the information processingapparatus 10 issues the notification instruction to the output apparatus20 after Step S32 and before Step S33. Upon reception of thenotification instruction, in Step S42, the output apparatus 20 transmitsthe status data to the information processing apparatus 10. In Step S43,the information processing apparatus 10 records the status indicated bythe received status data, that is, the status indicating that therequested processing is not completed. In Step S44, the informationprocessing apparatus 10 issues the notification instruction to theoutput apparatus 20 after Step S34. In Step S45, the output apparatus 20transmits the status data to the information processing apparatus 10. InStep S46, the information processing apparatus 10 records the statusindicated by the received status data, that is, the status indicatingthat the requested processing is completed. Steps S41 to S46 areperformed by the recording unit 104.

In the exemplary embodiments, the information processing apparatus 10notifies the external apparatus (the output apparatus 20) of thedestination information including the acquisition destination as theassociated information to instruct the external apparatus, which hascalled the information processing apparatus 10 using the destinationinformation, to access the acquisition destination. In the exemplaryembodiments, the process identification information (the information foridentifying the requested processing) is included in the associatedinformation. The information processing apparatus 10 uses theinformation acquired in the above manner, for example, for thedetermination of a condition to start another process, for parameters inthe other process, or as information to be indicated to the user.

In the exemplary embodiments, when the information processing apparatus10 has been called by the external apparatus using the destinationinformation, the status of the requested processing is recorded on thebasis of the associated information included in the destinationinformation.

Since the external apparatus is instructed to perform the notificationof the status of the process in the exemplary embodiments, it ispossible to acquire the status of the requested processing until theresult data is output from the service server apparatus 30. In theexemplary embodiments, the notification instruction is terminated uponacquisition or output of the result data.

In the exemplary embodiments, even if the information processingapparatus 10 does not store the destination information, the operationconcerning the requested processing is instructed on the basis of thedestination information used when the information processing apparatus10 has been called by the external apparatus. Since the informationprocessing apparatus 10 does not perform the operation concerning therequested processing, for example, the processing in the CPU for theoperation does not occur and, even if it is necessary to store any data(for example, the result data) due to the operation, the data is onlystored in the external apparatus and is not stored in the informationprocessing apparatus 10.

[2] Modifications

The exemplary embodiments described above are only examples of thepresent invention and may be modified in the following manner.Modifications described below may be combined if desired.

[2-1] Calling Condition

Although no restriction is imposed on the calling by the externalapparatus using the destination information in the exemplaryembodiments, any restriction may be imposed on the calling by theexternal apparatus using the destination information. For example, thenotification unit 102 notifies the user of the destination informationincluding a condition to determine a time when the informationprocessing apparatus 10 is ready to be called (such a condition ishereinafter referred to as a “time condition”) as the associatedinformation. The time condition indicates, for example, a time elapsedsince the request data has been transmitted (hereinafter referred to asa “first elapsed time”) and a time elapsed since the instruction unit103 has issued the instruction to the external apparatus (hereinafterreferred to as a “second elapsed time”).

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of the destination information in amodification. In this example, “t1=1 h”, which is the first elapsedtime, and “t2=30 m”, which is the second elapsed time, are added to theend of the process identification information in the destinationinformation illustrated in FIG. 7. In the example in FIG. 11, “t1=1 h”indicates that the first elapsed time is one hour and “t2=30 m”indicates that the second elapsed time is 30 minutes.

The instruction unit 103 issues the instruction described above (theinstruction for the access operation or the notification instruction) tothe external apparatus if the time condition included in the destinationinformation used when the external apparatus has called the informationprocessing apparatus 10 is met.

In the example in FIG. 11, the instruction unit 103 does not issue theinstruction even if the output apparatus 20 calls the informationprocessing apparatus 10 using the destination information until one hourelapsed since the request data has been transmitted by the transmissionunit 101. It takes a certain time to execute the requested processingand give the result of the requested processing even when the requestdata has been transmitted to the service server apparatus 30. When thecertain time is estimated from the past record or the amount of data tobe processed, it is desirable to set the estimated time as the firstelapsed time. In addition, the instruction unit 103 does not issue theinstruction even if the output apparatus 20 calls the informationprocessing apparatus 10 using the destination information until 30minutes elapsed since the instruction unit 103 has transmitted the HTTPresponse B2 illustrated in FIG. 8 to the output apparatus 20 to instructthe access operation. Since the HTTP response is not transmitted untilthe time condition is met in the present modification, as describedabove, the amount of data exchanged between the information processingapparatus 10 and the external apparatus is reduced, compared with a casein which the instruction is issued regardless of the time condition.

The notification unit 102 may indicate the destination information inwhich the length of the elapsed time is varied each time the callingusing the destination information is performed. For example, thedestination information in which the second elapsed time, which isoriginally set to 30 minutes, is varied to “t2=20” is subsequentlyindicated and the destination information in which the second elapsedtime is varied to “t2=10” is subsequently indicated. The time conditionin which a time zone during which the information processing apparatus10 is ready to be called is represented by times of day may be used,instead of the elapsed time. For example, when “t3=0900-1800”, theinstruction unit 103 issues the instruction if a time zone t3 from 9:00to 18:00 is met.

[2-2] Multiple Pieces of Destination Information

The notification unit 102 may notify the user of multiple pieces ofdestination information. In this case, for example, the time conditiondescribed above is used in the following manner. Specifically, when thenotification unit 102 notifies the user of multiple pieces ofdestination information, the notification unit 102 uses a condition todetermine the order of the calling of the information processingapparatus 10 using the respective pieces of destination information asthe time condition. A specific example in which such notification isperformed will now be described with reference to FIG. 12.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of the entire configuration of aninformation processing system in a modification. In the example in FIG.12, an information processing system 1 a includes service serverapparatuses 30 a, 30 b, and 30 c. It is assumed that the user requests aprocess to process, for example, a certain piece of data in the serviceserver apparatuses 30 a, 30 b, and 30 c in this order. The request dataindicating this request is simultaneously transmitted to the requestdestinations of the respective process execution services and therespective process execution services transmit predetermined acquisitiondestinations (acquisition destinations a, b, and c) to the informationprocessing apparatus 10. The notification unit 102 uses the respectiveacquisition destinations that are transmitted to generate multiplepieces of destination information including the acquisition destinationsas the associated information.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of the multiple pieces of destinationinformation that are generated. In the example in FIG. 13, destinationinformation a “https:••u=www.abc.com/a01/&j=J001&number=1”, destinationinformation b “https:••u=www.efg.com/a01/&j=J001&number=2”, anddestination information c “https:••u=www.hij.com/a01/&j=J001&number=3”are generated. A host name, etc. of each acquisition destination isindicated in each piece of destination information and all of thedestination information a, the destination information b, and thedestination information c include the process identification information“j=J001.” Order numbers “number=1”, “number=2”, and “number=3” areincluded as the associated information after the respective pieces ofprocess identification information.

The order numbers represent the order in which the instruction is issuedon the basis of the associated information included in the destinationinformation when the information processing apparatus 10 is called fromthe external apparatus using the destination information including theorder number. In the example in FIG. 13, the acquisition destination ais first used, the acquisition destination b is secondly used, and theacquisition destination c is thirdly used. If the output apparatus 20first calls the information processing apparatus 10 using thedestination information a, the instruction unit 103 determines that thetime condition is met to issue the instruction because of the correctorder. If the output apparatus 20 next calls the information processingapparatus 10 using the destination information c, the instruction unit103 determines that the time condition is not met not to issue theinstruction because of the incorrect order. Accordingly, the instructionfor the operation concerning the process is not issued if thedestination information is not used in the order that is determined inthe notification. In other words, when the multiple pieces ofdestination information are indicated, the operations concerning theprocess are managed so as to be performed in the predetermined order.

Although the order numbers are determined on the basis of the order ofthe execution of the requested processing in the above example, thedetermination of the order numbers is not limited to this. For example,when the requested processing is concurrently executed for the pieces ofdestination information, the order numbers may be determined inascending order of the times required to execute the process.

After the instruction unit 103 instructs the operation concerning theprocess, the instruction unit 103 may issue the notification instructionfor the destination information of the next order number. If the statusin which the requested processing is completed is indicated in responseto the notification instruction, the instruction unit 103 accepts thecalling using the destination information including the next ordernumber to issue the instruction.

[2-3] Notification of Specific Information

In the above modification, if the time condition is not met, thenotification unit 102 may notify the user of information for identifyingthe destination information to be used next, that is, the destinationinformation for which the time condition is met (such information ishereinafter referred to as “specific information” for the destinationinformation). For example, if the calling using the destinationinformation c is performed next to the calling using the destinationinformation a in the example in FIG. 13, the notification unit 102notifies the user of “https:••?p=xxx&u=xxx&j=J001&number=2” as thespecific information for the destination information b. Since theinformation processing apparatus 10 does not store the destinationinformation of which the user is notified, the scheme name and the hostname, etc. of the destination information b is unknown. In the specificinformation, “p=xxx” and “u=xxx” indicate that the corresponding piecesof information are unknown.

In contrast, as for the destination information b, it is estimated thatthe apparatus destination and the process identification information(“j=J001” in this example) are common to those in the destinationinformation c and that the order number is “number=2” next to that ofthe acquisition destination a (“number=1” in this example). Accordingly,the notification unit 102 generates the destination informationincluding the estimated associated information as the specificinformation to notify the user of the specific information. The useridentifies the destination information b having the same order number,among the destination information a, the destination information b, andthe destination information c, with the specific information of whichthe user is notified to cause the output apparatus 20 to call theinformation processing apparatus 10 using the identified destinationinformation b.

[2-4] Automatic Calling by External Apparatus

Although the output apparatus 20 requires the operation by the user inthe calling using the destination information in the above exemplaryembodiments, the calling using the destination information may beautomatically executed without the operation by the user.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the functionalconfiguration of each apparatus in a modification. An output apparatus20 b including a calling unit 201 is illustrated in the example in FIG.14, in addition to the information processing apparatus 10 illustratedin FIG. 4. The calling unit 201 is a unit realized by cooperation of,for example, the control section 21, the storage section 22, and thecommunication section 23. The destination information transmitted fromthe notification unit 102 is supplied to the calling unit 201. Thecalling unit 201 stores timing data in which the timing when theinformation processing apparatus 10 is called using the destinationinformation that is supplied is defined. The timing data is defined sothat, for example, the calling is executed after one hour elapsed sincethe destination information was supplied and the calling is subsequentlyexecuted for every 30 minutes.

The calling unit 201 calls the information processing apparatus 10 usingthe destination information at the timing defined in the timing data(specifically, the calling unit 201 generates the HTTP requestillustrated in FIG. 8 to transmit the generated HTTP request). The HTTPrequest transmitted by the calling unit 201 is supplied to theinstruction unit 103, which issues the instruction based on thedestination information. According to this modification, the trouble tothe user is reduced, compared with a case in which the calling with thecalling unit 201 is not executed.

[2-5] Authority of External Apparatus

The instruction unit 103 may determine whether the instruction is issuedon the basis of the degree of confidentiality of the requestedprocessing. For example, when the external apparatus does not have theauthority concerning the requested processing, the instruction unit 103does not instruct the operation concerning the requested processing. Theauthorities concerning the requested processing include, for example,the authority to acquire the status of the requested processing, theauthority to acquire the result data of the requested processing, andthe authority to output the result data of the requested processing. Inother words, the authority indicates whether the operation which theoutput apparatus 20 is capable of performing for the requestedprocessing may be practically performed. The instruction unit 103 storesan authority table in which the authorities are associated with the userIDs of the users having the respective authorities.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of the authority table. In the example inFIG. 15, the operations concerning the requested processing: the“acquisition of the status of the requested processing”, the“acquisition of the result data”, and the “output of the result data”are associated with the user IDs of the users having the authorities toperform the respective operations. The user operating the outputapparatus 20 inputs the user ID and the password to log in the serviceserver apparatus 30. When the service server apparatus 30 is logged inby the user ID having the authority, the output apparatus 20 is in astate in which the output apparatus 20 has the authority. In contrast,when the service server apparatus 30 is logged in by the user ID whichdoes not have the authority, the output apparatus 20 is in a state inwhich the output apparatus 20 does not have the authority.

Upon calling of the information processing apparatus 10 by the outputapparatus 20 using the destination information, the instruction unit 103returns, for example, an HTTP 401 response code and causes the outputapparatus 20 to transmit authentication information to acquire theauthentication information that is transmitted. The output apparatus 20may include the calling unit 201 described above in the abovemodification and the calling unit 201 may call the informationprocessing apparatus 10 using the destination information resulting fromaddition of the user ID to the destination information as the associatedinformation (for example, the destination information to which theassociated information “UserID=ID001” is added). In this case, theinstruction unit 103 acquires the user ID included in the destinationinformation used in the calling. The instruction unit 103 determineswhether the user ID that is acquired in the above manner is associatedwith the operation to be instructed in the authority table. Theinstruction unit 103 instructs the output apparatus 20 to perform theoperation if the user ID is associated with the operation to beinstructed in the authority table and does not instruct the outputapparatus 20 to perform the operation if the user ID is not associatedwith the operation to be instructed in the authority table.

Although each operation is associated with the user IDs in the examplein FIG. 15, each operation may be associated with an apparatus ID foridentifying the external apparatus, such as the output apparatus 20,instead of the user IDs. Also in this case, the instruction unit 103acquires the apparatus ID in the same manner as in the user IDs anddetermines whether the operation is instructed using the authoritytable. If the external apparatus in the state in which the externalapparatus does not have the authority performs the operation concerningthe requested processing, the user who should not know the content ofthe requested processing may possibly know the content of the requestedprocessing. In the present modification, the instruction unit 103determines whether the instruction is issued on the basis of the stateof the authority in the above manner to make such an operation difficultto be performed. Accordingly, the degree of confidentiality of therequested processing is improved, compared with a case in which theinstruction is issued to the external apparatus in the state in whichthe external apparatus does not have the authority.

[2-6] Transfer Request

The user who has requested the service server apparatus 30 to executethe specified process (hereinafter referred to as a “request user”) ischarged for the price of the specified process. Although the user whohas requested the service server apparatus 30 to execute the specifiedprocess may be different from the user who receives the result of therequested processing (hereinafter referred to as a “receiving user”),the request user is charged for the price even in this case.Specifically, the user identified by the user ID that has logged in thetransmission of the request data for the specified process is consideredas the request user to be charged for the price. In such a case, aprocess to cause the receiving user to pay part or all of the chargedprice (a billing amount) to the request user, that is, a process totransfer the price to the receiving user (hereinafter referred to as a“transfer process”) may be executed.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the functionalconfiguration of each apparatus in a modification. An informationprocessing apparatus 10 c including a transfer process unit 105, inaddition to the units illustrated in FIG. 4, is illustrated in theexample in FIG. 16. The transfer process unit 105 is an exemplary unitto execute the transfer process described above. The transfer processunit 105 acquires the user ID of the user operating the output apparatus20 (that is, the receiving user) in the manner performed by theinstruction unit 103 in the above modification. The transfer processunit 105 stores, for example, the percentage of payment sharing betweenthe request user and the receiving user (for example, 50% for therequest user and 50% for the receiving user) in advance. The transferprocess unit 105 acquires the billing amount from the service serverapparatus 30 or a billing system 40 that charges the price. When theprice is determined depending on the content of the requestedprocessing, the transfer process unit 105 may calculate the billingamount from the content of the specified process that is requested andthat is indicated by the request data, which is supplied from thetransmission unit 101.

The status of the requested processing that is recorded is supplied tothe transfer process unit 105 from the recording unit 104. For example,if the status in which the receiving user has output the result data issupplied, the transfer process unit 105 acquires or calculates thebilling amount in the above manner to transmit billing amount dataindicating the billing amount to the billing system 40. Upon receptionof the billing mount data, the billing system 40, which charges theprice to the user, for example, sends a bill with which the billingamount indicated by the billing amount data is charged to the address ofthe registered user. Alternatively, the billing system 40 withdraws thebilling amount from an account of a bank of the registered user orcharges the billing amount to an account of a credit card of theregistered user. The transfer process unit 105 executes the transferprocess in the above manner. Accordingly, even if the process executionservice does not support the charge to multiple users, the receivinguser is also charged for the price of the requested processing.

[2-7] Deletion of Result Data

The process execution service may be provided using a charging methoddepending on the amount of computer resources (for example, a CPU and astorage area) of the service server apparatus 30 used in the processexecution service. The service server apparatus 30 may continue to usethe computer resource, which is the storage area, to store the resultdata even after the requested processing is completed. This causes theunnecessary result data to be accumulated to strain the computerresources and/or to charge the price for the unnecessary computerresources. In such a case, deletion of the result data may be requestedafter the requested processing is completed. Specifically, the status ofthe requested processing recorded by the recording unit 104 is suppliedto the transmission unit 101 and, for example, when the status in whichthe receiving user has output the result data is supplied, thetransmission unit 101 transmits the request data indicating that thedeletion of the result data is requested to the request destination (thedestination at which the request for the process is accepted). Thisallows the amount of the computer resources that are used to be reduced,compared with a case in which the deletion of the result data is notrequested.

The request for the deletion of the result data may not be acceptedunless the request is from the information processing apparatus that hastransmitted the request data depending on the mode of the processexecution service provided by the service server apparatus. According tothe present modification, since the request data for the deletion istransmitted from the transmission unit 101 in the information processingapparatus even in such a case, the result data is deleted to reduce theamount of the computer resources that are used.

[2-8] Transfer Method

Although the instruction unit 103 uses the HTTP response of the HTTPstatus code 302 to instruct transfer of the access destination of theoutput apparatus 20 (the calling destination from the viewpoint of theinformation processing apparatus 10) from the information processingapparatus 10 to the acquisition destination (the redirect) in the aboveexemplary embodiments, this instruction may be issued using anothermethod. For example, the instruction unit 103 may use HTTP status code301 (Moved Permanently), HTTP status code 303 (See Other), or HTTPstatus code 307 (Temporary Redirect) other than the HTTP status code 302for transferring the access destination or may issue the transferinstruction using Common Gateway Interface (CGI) or JavaScript. Anymethod may be used as long as the output apparatus 20 is caused toaccess the acquisition destination on the basis of the associatedinformation included in the destination information used in the callingof the information processing apparatus 10.

[2-9] how to Separate Pieces of Associated Information

Although “?” and “&” are used as the symbols used to separate the piecesof information in the destination information in the above exemplaryembodiments, “?” and “&” are not limitedly used. For example, “!”, “#”,and “%” may be used. Any symbol and character may be used as long as thesymbol and the character are determined to separate the pieces ofinformation included in the destination information in the informationprocessing system. However, it is desirable to use a character and asymbol that are rarely used to represent information includingdestinations and IDs in order to easily distinguish the symbol andcharacter from the pieces of information.

[2-10] Operation Instruction

Although the instruction unit 103 exchanges data using the redirect orthe SNMP to instruct the output apparatus 20 to perform the operationconcerning the requested processing in the above exemplary embodiments,the exchange of data is not limitedly performed using the above method.For example, the instruction unit 103 may generate data in which thecontent of the instruction is described according to a specific rule(such data is hereinafter referred to as “instruction data”) and maytransmit the instruction data to the output apparatus 20 to instruct theoperation. When the output apparatus 20 has a function to operateaccording to this rule, the output apparatus 20 performs the operationindicated by the instruction data that is received, that is, theoperation concerning the requested processing.

Inversely, the output apparatus 20 may instruct the informationprocessing apparatus to perform the operation. For example, a command toinstruct the operation of the information processing apparatus 10 isincluded in the associated information to instruct the operation (of theinformation processing apparatus 10) when the output apparatus 20 hascalled the information processing apparatus 10.

[2-11] Encryption of Associated Information

The associated information may be encrypted and the encrypted associatedinformation may be represented by a character string. In this case, theinformation processing apparatus 10 has a symmetric key and decodes theencrypted portion, that is, the associated information with thesymmetric key. The output apparatus 20 is caused not to have thesymmetric key. In the information processing system, the apparatus whichthe user operates to acquire the result of the requested processing maybe the output apparatus 20 or another external apparatus. The externalapparatus may have a degree of confidentiality lower than that of theinformation processing apparatus 10. However, since only the informationprocessing apparatus 10 has the symmetric key in the presentmodification, the degree of confidentiality is improved, compared with acase in which the other external apparatus also has the symmetric key.

[2-12] Upper Limit of Number of Times of Calling

An upper limit of the number of times of calling may be determined asthe calling condition described above. For example, when the informationprocessing apparatus is called by multiple output apparatuses operatedby different users, the information processing apparatus accepts thecalling a predetermined number of times to instruct the operationconcerning the requested processing. The information processingapparatus does not accept the calling after the calling has beenaccepted the predetermined number of times and does not issue theinstruction. Specifically, the notification unit 102 indicates thedestination information including the process identification informationand the upper limit of the number of times of calling as the associatedinformation. The instruction unit 103 counts the number of the pieces ofprocess identification information recorded by the recording unit 104 asthe number of times of calling and, if the count is not higher than athreshold value (the upper limit of the number of times of calling),accepts the calling to issue the instruction. In other words, theinstruction unit 103 issues the instruction if the number of times whenthe information processing apparatus 10 is called using the destinationinformation is not higher than the threshold value. Accordingly, thenumber of times when the operation concerning the requested processingis instructed is limited to, for example, limit the number of users whoacquire the result data.

[2-13] Associated Information

The associated information is not limited to the ones described in theabove exemplary embodiments and modifications. For example, the user IDand the password used by the user to log in the service server apparatus30 may be used as the associated information. An electronic mail addressor an SNS account, which is used as the destination of any notificationto the user, may be used as the associated information. When suchpersonal information is used as the associated information, it isdesirable to encrypt the information in the manner described above.

[2-14] Reading Out of Associated Information by External Apparatus

Although only the information processing apparatus 10 is capable ofreading out the associated information in the above exemplaryembodiments and modifications, the associated information may be readout by the output apparatus 20. In this case, the degree ofconfidentiality of the output apparatus 20 is desirably higher than thedegree of confidentiality that is required for the requested processing,as described above. When the degree of confidentiality is varied betweenthe pieces of associated information, the pieces of associatedinformation having higher degrees of confidentiality may be encrypted toallow only the other pieces of associated information to be read out bythe output apparatus 20.

For example, it is assumed that multiple pieces of destinationinformation are indicated to the output apparatus 20 and each piece ofdestination information includes the associated information, which isused as the parameter of the operation performed by the output apparatus20 in response to the instruction. In this case, the output apparatus 20uses a certain piece of destination information to call the informationprocessing apparatus 10 and the instruction unit 103 instructs theoperation concerning the requested processing. When the parameterincluded in the destination information that is not used in the callingis desirably used in this operation, the output apparatus 20 reads outthe parameter to cause the operation to be performed by the outputapparatus 20.

[2-15] Categories of Present Invention

The present invention may be embodied by an information processingmethod for realizing the process executed by the information processingapparatus or the like, in addition to the information processingapparatus and the information processing system including theinformation processing apparatus. The process here is, for example, themanagement process described above with reference to in FIG. 10. Thepresent invention may be embodied by a program causing a computer, suchas the information processing apparatus, to function as the unitsillustrated in FIG. 4 and so on. The program may be provided on arecording medium, such as an optical disk, on which the program isstored or may be downloaded to the computer via a network, such as theInternet, to be installed for use.

The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention has been provided for the purposes of illustration anddescription. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise forms disclosed. Obviously, many modificationsand variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art. Theembodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and its practical applications, therebyenabling others skilled in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments and with the various modifications as are suited tothe particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of theinvention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information processing apparatus comprising: atransmission unit that transmits a request for processing to adestination at which the request is accepted; a notification unit thatmakes a notification of destination information including firstinformation used to call the information processing apparatus and secondinformation concerning the requested processing; and an instruction unitthat instructs an external apparatus, when the external apparatus callsthe information processing apparatus using the destination information,to perform an operation concerning the requested processing on the basisof the second information.
 2. The information processing apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the notification unit makes thenotification of the destination information including a destination fromwhich a result of the requested processing is acquired as the secondinformation, and wherein the instruction unit instructs the externalapparatus to access the destination.
 3. The information processingapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second information includesprocess identification information for identifying the request.
 4. Theinformation processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein thesecond information includes process identification information foridentifying the request.
 5. The information processing apparatusaccording to claim 1, further comprising: a recording unit that recordsa status of the request on the basis of the second information when theexternal apparatus calls the information processing apparatus using thedestination information.
 6. The information processing apparatusaccording to claim 2, further comprising: a recording unit that recordsa status of the request on the basis of the second information when theexternal apparatus calls the information processing apparatus using thedestination information.
 7. The information processing apparatusaccording to claim 3, further comprising: a recording unit that recordsa status of the request on the basis of the second information when theexternal apparatus calls the information processing apparatus using thedestination information.
 8. The information processing apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the notification unit makes thenotification of the destination information including a time conditionto determine a time when the information processing apparatus is readyto be called as the second information, and wherein the instruction unitissues the instruction to the external apparatus if the time conditionused when the external apparatus calls the information processingapparatus is met.
 9. The information processing apparatus according toclaim 8, wherein, when the notification unit makes the notification of aplurality of pieces of destination information, the notification unituses a condition to determine an order of the calling of the informationprocessing apparatus using the respective pieces of destinationinformation as the time condition.
 10. The information processingapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instruction unit issues theinstruction if a number of times when the information processingapparatus is called using the destination information is not higher thana threshold value.
 11. The information processing apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the instruction unit instructs the external apparatusto indicate the status of the request after the external apparatus callsthe information processing apparatus.
 12. The information processingapparatus according to claim 11, wherein the instruction unit repeatsthe instruction and terminates the instruction if the external apparatusindicates a status in which result data indicating the result of therequested processing is acquired or output.
 13. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instruction unitdoes not issue the instruction of the operation concerning the requestin a state in which the external apparatus does not have an authorityconcerning the requested processing.
 14. A non-transitory computerreadable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute aprocess comprising: transmitting a request for processing to adestination at which the request is accepted; making a notification ofdestination information including first information used to call theinformation processing apparatus and second information concerning therequested processing; and instructing an external apparatus, when theexternal apparatus calls the information processing apparatus using thedestination information, to perform an operation concerning therequested processing on the basis of the second information.
 15. Aninformation processing method in an information processing apparatus,the method comprising: transmitting a request for processing to adestination at which the request is accepted; making a notification ofdestination information including first information used to call theinformation processing apparatus and second information concerning therequested processing; and instructing an external apparatus, when theexternal apparatus calls the information processing apparatus using thedestination information, to perform an operation concerning therequested processing on the basis of the second information.